Typical electrical busways are an electrical distribution track that is comprised of an elongated housing containing a plurality of electrically isolated conductive busbars encased in an insulator. Sections of busway can be joined together to form runs for power distribution. When two sections of busway are joined, an electrical connection between the two separate sections is made by a connector body unit. The connector body unit acts as a bridge between the two separate sections of busway.
Standard surface track systems typically have two channels. One channel is a data channel for running data transport devices. The other channel is a power channel for supplying power distribution by running electrical conductors to receptacles attached at fixed points along a length of the system. Since the receptacles are hard wired to the electrical conductors back to a certain location, adding or removing receptacles means that the electrical conductors that supply power to the receptacles must also be added or removed. The number of receptacles in a track system is dependent on the number of electrical conductors used and how many electrical conductors can fit into the power channel.
Standard surface track systems consist of one of more channels generally in the shape of a single U or a double U. Track systems that are only to have a power channel or a data channel use a single generally U-shaped track system. On the other hand, track systems that are used to supply power distribution and data transport use a double generally U-shaped track system.
The standard track systems are typically mounted in such a way that the opening of the U-shaped channel faces sideways from a horizontal direction along which the track systems travel. Covers, which may be blank, contain receptacles, breakers, data jacks, data ports or combinations thereof are snapped to the open side of the of the U-shaped channel to enclose the track system. Connections to the receptacles, breakers, data jacks or data ports are effected by running electrical conductors to the receptacles and breakers and by running data transport devices to the data jacks and data ports.
Since individual electrical conductors are needed for every receptacle and breaker and individual data transport devices are needed for every data jack and data port for a standard track system, the number of electrical conductors and data transport devices that the standard track system may hold is limited to the physical size of the power channel and the data channel. Adding, moving or removing receptacles, breakers, data jacks or data ports means that individual electrical conductors and individual data transport devices must be added, modified or removed adding labor and downtime costs for changes to the standard track system.
Standard wire tray systems, generally in the shape of a three-sided trough, are used to route data transport devices overhead in commercial offices or manufacturing facilities. The wire tray supports data transport devices and is typically run in a straight line in a horizontal direction. The wire tray is usually suspended from roof ceilings. Data transport devices that need to be coupled to data jacks or data ports run along the overhead trough and are then dropped downwardly through apertures in the trough walls and connected to the desired data jacks or data ports.
It is known to run data transport devices in a wire tray located proximate to an electrical busway. Such a wire tray is a separate component that is mechanically attached to the electrical busway with fasteners or the like. A problem with such an approach is that installation becomes complicated by requiring the installer to mechanically connect the wire tray to the electrical busway. Complicated installations create increased labor costs. An additional problem with such an approach is that material costs are increased by requiring the purchase or two systems and mechanical attachment devices. Another problem with such an approach is that the wire tray mechanically connected to the electrical busway does not have an aesthetically pleasing appearance and cannot be mounted directly to a mounting surface such as a wall, floor or a ceiling. Since the wire tray mechanically attached to the electrical busway cannot be mounted directly to such a mounting surface, the prior art combination increased the overall footprint of the combination that occupies space in commercial offices or manufacturing facilities.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a data and power distribution system for an electrical busway that reduces the occurrence of complicated installations and associated labor installation costs.
It is, therefore, also desirable to provide a data and power distribution system for an electrical busway that has an aesthetically pleasing appearance that could be mounted directly to a mounting surface such as a wall, floor or a ceiling.
It is, therefore, additionally desirable to provide a data and power distribution system for an electrical busway that reduces the overall footprint of the system.
Accordingly, there is room for improvement in data and power distribution systems that are described above.